Was Eric Mika’s decision to hire an agent and put a full on rush for an NBA job the right one?
The talented sophomore center for BYU declared his intentions earlier this week, ending his college career after two seasons separated by a two-year LDS mission to Italy.
Yes. It was the right decision for Mika.
BYU will miss his talent, experience and energy mightily in the upcoming season. But that’s college ball, nobody signs long contracts. And it shall pass.
Long before Golden Holt became Orem High’s basketball coach, he was involved in coaching Mika and most of the other players we know as the Lone Peak talent. As an AAU coach who toured the country with these boys, Holt has known Mika since he was in grade school.
“In all my years of coaching, Eric’s work ethic is second to none. He will succeed because he will never, ever back down from anyone,” Holt said on Saturday.
Mika trying for the NBA? His NBA Combine measurables didn’t exactly swivel heads, some critics say. So what. Let Mika find out what he’s got.
Good for him. He’s got talent. He wants to develop it beyond what BYU could provide him as his body clock, his marriage and opportunities became key factors. BYU needed him to play with his back to the basket as a center. At the next level, he’ll need to play a stretch forward and shoot outside, develop a 3-point shot – something BYU didn’t need of him.
Mika is an exceptional athlete, but is he NBA material? Let’s let him find out, working at it full time, making it his 24-7 job. If he has to take an NBA developmental league route, so be it. He has to find out, discover it for himself.
“He has worked hard on his perimeter shooting and has shown great improvement. To me that is the key for him at the next level – becoming a four man that can face and shoot. He already has the rest of the tools he needs,” said Holt.
Days before Mika’s decision, I was golfing at Thanksgiving Point with Daniel Reid, son of Senior Tour and PGA Tour veteran Mike Reid. Daniel lives close by Mika and shares a youth service church calling in northern Utah County with him. He kept asking Mika his status, so he’d know if he needed a replacement at church. The feeling was, and had been so for some time, that Mika’s BYU career was over.
The next day, while I was speaking to a group of die-hard fans at Sizzler in Orem, the Mika topic was hot. Was he coming back or not? My guess was no. Every indication Mika has given for a month is that he was moving on.
For BYU fans disappointed in his decision, I say move on. Support the guy. To the whiners and the “sky-is-falling” group, you folks need to get outside more often.
Mika’s loss will hurt BYU. But it will also open doors for guys like Yoeli Childs, Payton Dastrup and Ryan Andrus, who just got off a mission. Can they replace Mika? No, but they can be themselves, potentially good.
Dave Rose has proven he can win a lot of games – even beat Gonzaga in Spokane – with a 6-6 post guy in Kyle Collinsworth. The 3-point shot is a great equalizer – if you convert.
In recent history, Rose has had only two 6-10 size post players capable of sniffing the NBA, Brandon Davies and Mika. If he has to go post by committee, that’s what he’ll do. And there are still some recruiting possibilities, even this late.
Rose has done pretty good with his guard, wing-oriented approach that features fast play and the 3-point shot.
Add a more mature defensive approach, sprinkle in more experience, a deeper bench, more athleticism and if he gets a more consistent outside threat, Rose will be OK. Remember, he’s rebuilding again.
BYU’s 2017-18 team will be young and certainly raw at the post. In some ways, it will be starting over with new faces like Mississippi JC transfer point guard Jahshire Hardnett, who I believe has skills nobody else on the current squad possesses.
Good luck to Mika. He came, he played, he moved on.
It would be fun to see Mika in the Marriott Center again. But if he wants to find out if he belongs at another level, who can fault anyone for tackling a challenge of discovery?